Ryu Terui was an ordinary police office like anyone else, until the day that Isaka the Weather Dopant savagely murdered his entire family. With the help of Shroud though, Ryu began a quest for his revenge as Kamen Rider Accel! Years ago, when S.H. Figuarts was still a pretty fledgling line Accel had his first collector style figure. For the time, it was really pretty great. Good detailing, decent poseability, even some nice diecast feet for stability. But as with many figuarts from that era, it's aged out. Now, 7 years later, Bandai has revisited this character as the next entry in their premium renewal line with S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Accel!

Packaging
This is the one area I'm always going to be less than impressed with for Shinkocchou Seihou. While the the slip cover box style actually is something I really like, it's always quite boring too. The standard black & white packaging with a few official images just doesn't wow me like it did when this subline was still fairly new. I still think it's some of the best collectors style packaging we could hope for, but I would like to see maybe the colors get mixed up a bit at least.

Main Figure
Like I mentioned above, it's been 7 years people. 7 years since the original Accel figuart was released. I honestly hadn't even realized it had been that long, but let me tell you now that Seihou Accel induces some serious whiplash. The differences between the original & Seihou releases of Decade, Kuuga, Kabuto, they were stark. W was on another level entirely. I dare say that Shinkocchou Seihou Accel is every bit the kind of improvement that W was. He's just a top notch release.

For starters, Seihou Accel is just bigger. As you can see in my comparison shots below, he's about a head taller than the original. Overall about 15% larger and bulkier. This was much much needed. A figure that can finally match the suits proportions properly. But really it's more than that. This figure excels (see what I did there??) in putting the original to shame in every conceivable way. From an articulation standpoint there's really no comparison. Seihou Accel features the best combination of ankles knees & hips I've seen on a figuart in a long time. Plenty of clearance for the ankles, strong toe bends, nice flat feet to achieve balanced poses, hips with a wide range of motion thanks to their complex design. It's just fabulous.

Now let's take a pits top at the Accel Driver. This meticulously detailed henshin device looks every bit as spectacular as the W Driver did, and like it, it can accept Gaia Memories like the included Accel & Engine. It's also removable, surely to replicate Accel's transformation to bike form, but obviously this figure can't accomplish that. The rest of the torso, like the rest of the figure is exquisite (a few minor scuffs in the silver paint aside). And it has plenty of clearance, a good arch for the back etc etc you get the picture. Now let's look at my one big qualm with this figure, the arms. While they are a vast improvement over the original, I take issue with two things. 1, the shoulders are kind of horrendous. The shoulder pads are hinged well enough, but for some reason not in any way that facilitates them clearing the actual shoulder cavity for posing, they impact it alot, but even if you remove them entirely, the shoulder sockets are very tight and kind of limited in most circumstances/ You have to apply a lot of force sometimes to move them. On top of this are the wrists. When I plug hands onto them, the peg holes seem too shallow, the hand sort of floats above the ball joint and doesn't rest naturally so it looks awkward. They also pull off the ball rather easily when posing. But to me at least the hands also feel a bit disproportionate and over-sized. They get the job done, but they do look off.

Finishing up top, we have Accels head, which really captures his likeness better than either of the previous figuart offerings, the original head or the "improved" one that came with Accel Booster. This is a sharp, accurate likeness that really sells the notion that a person could be wearing that helmet in there. My only complaint is the neck is just a tad too short so the chin impacts the collar around the neck on the sides. It's not detrimental, just annoying.

Overall this is an excellent release. I have issues with the arms, but honestly that's pretty minor. This is a gorgeous figure that communicates Ryu Terui's personality astonishingly well. And paired up with Kamen Rider W, it's like these guys walked right off screen. Bring on Skull & Eternal!

Accessories
As with most any Shinkocchou Seihou, this figure comes with a perfect array of accessories:

5 - sets of hands. Basically all purpose for everything you'll need. 1 set of open palmed hands, several sets for holding things specifically for the Engine Blade and a bike riding pair, and there's even a pair for holding Gaia Memories.

1 - alternate head. Basically the only difference here is that the underside of the visor has some additional painted details to replicate the way the visor lights up when Accel powers up or executes a Maximum Drive.

1 - Accel Gaia Memory. Just plug this one into the Accel Driver to complete the figure's standard look. I'm still astonished, ever after W, just hoe well detailed these tiny things are. And easy to lose! Just be careful when handling them.

1 - Engine Gaia Memory. One of Accels "artificial" memories, Engine should be used in conjunction with the next accessory.

1 - Engine Blade. Accel's signature sword and sort of all purpose weapon. Able to accept Gaia Memories by folding the blade forward, the detail on this item basically matches what was present with the original figuart. This one is a bit sharper, more crisp paint apps, and is generally just more representative of the actual show prop. It's not terribly different from the original, but it's still noticeable to me.

Final Thoughts
As with Kamen Rider W, and in fact any Seihou release before him, I'm really in love with Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Accel. It's just an excellent figure. This lines mantra has been all about recreating the closest approximation possible of the actual show suits. Making them as life like and as proportionate as possible. Accel (making the same joke again!) excels in this regard, it's a wonderful representation of a rider I've always enjoyed. Skull & Eternal look to be just as incredible as these past releases have been, I can't wait!